This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press from the Small Arms Survey shows a launch tube for Igla trainer system in Syria, 2012. Armed groups in Syria have an estimated several hundred portable anti-aircraft missiles that could easily be diverted to extremists and used to destroy low-flying commercial planes, according to a new report by a respected international research group. It cites the risk that the missiles could be smuggled out of Syria by terrorists. (AP Photo/Small Arms Survey) less

This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press from the Small Arms Survey shows a launch tube for Igla trainer system in Syria, 2012. Armed groups in Syria have an estimated several hundred portable ... more

Photo: Associated Press

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This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press from the Small Arms Survey, shows a man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS. Armed groups in Syria have an estimated several hundred portable anti-aircraft missiles that could easily be diverted to extremists and used to destroy low-flying commercial planes, according to a new report by a respected international research group. It cites the risk that the missiles could be smuggled out of Syria by terrorists. (AP Photo/Small Arms Survey) less

This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press from the Small Arms Survey, shows a man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS. Armed groups in Syria have an estimated several hundred portable ... more

Photo: Associated Press

Image 3 of 3

New report warns of antiaircraft weapons in Syria

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WASHINGTON -- Warnings from an international research group and the Federal Aviation Administration underscore the rising threat to commercial aircraft posed by hundreds of antiaircraft weapons that are now in the arsenals of armed groups in Syria and could easily be diverted to extremist factions.

Armed groups opposing the Assad regime in Syria have already amassed an estimated several hundred portable antiaircraft missiles that are highly mobile, difficult to track and accurate enough to destroy low-flying passenger planes, according to a new report by Small Arms Survey, a respected research organization that analyzes the global flow of weapons.

The report was released Tuesday, hours after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice Monday to U.S. airlines banning flights in Syrian airspace. The agency said armed extremists in Syria are "known to be equipped with a variety of antiaircraft weapons which have the capability to threaten civilian aircraft." The agency had previously warned against flights over Syria but had not prohibited them.

The separate warnings highlighted the growing concerns about the proliferation of antiaircraft missiles in the wake of last month's lethal attack on a passenger jet flying over Ukraine. While the missile used to attack the Malaysia Airlines jet was a long-range surface-to-air missile, the new warnings focus on smaller launchers and missiles known as "man-portable air defense systems," or MANPADS, which target aircraft flying at lower altitudes, taking off or landing.

The Small Arms Survey report said that several hundred antiaircraft missile systems in rebel arsenals are mostly Russian and Chinese in origin and were either seized from government forces or smuggled in from nations sympathetic to the insurgents. The most immediate danger comes from newer, sophisticated models that could easily be diverted to extremist groups outside Syria.

"In the hands of trained terrorists with global reach, even a few missiles pose a potentially catastrophic threat to commercial aviation," wrote Matthew Schroeder, the report's author.